Celebrating the love of the Game.

Well, there is lots to talk about. So much so that I’m not really sure where to begin with all of it. I will start with college basketball.

I have probably spent the least amount of time on college basketball as a whole as opposed to any of the other basketball things going on because of one simple fact: KU. After Late Night in the Phog, my love for that team has continually grown greater and greater. I see them winning a National Title and really nothing else matters. Sure I care about college basketball; I love it; but I love KU way more to put to much effort into finding out a great deal more about alot more teams. (somewhere around 364 others) I’m sure I will post a KU blog and another college basketblog *lawl*, but until then, you know my only desire for April is to see Kansas cutting down nets in San Antonio.

The NBA started this week. I thought it amusing and yet unsurprising that the Spurs bench managed to beat Portland (the only game I’ve seen so far). I haven’t decided on predictions except that as long as the Bulls keep Ben Wallace (interior D and rebounding) they make the NBA finals, with or without Kobe. With Kobe and Ben Wallace, they take a series to 7 against whoever they play, but I won’t say they win it. Kobe has vetoed all trade deals for him that would involve Luol Deng, so we have to assume that Wallace or Thomas/Noah are gonna be involved in a trade. I hope that Noah goes, I really really hate him. Yes, Von, he is a sasquatch. As for predictions and other NBA things, those are later. Time to move on.

CBA’s basketball team started this week also. (I love Halloween. Not for candy, or stupid costumes, or anything like that, but it means its basketball season, baby!) I like what I’ve seen out of the first few workouts. I think the entire team is hard working as a whole. I’ve seen HUGE improvement in some players, and steps towards improvement in others; but what I really like, and this could just be because its the beginning of the year, is that everyone seems to really want to learn. They want to get better, which makes our job much much easier! Its impossible to teach someone who doesn’t want to learn, but when people are tying to get better, they will. It might take awhile, but they will. I think this team could be really good and maybe even great, but we’ve only had 1 1/2 practice. They have a tournament next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We will know alot more by then.

Thats a quick update on my basketball world. When I decide on predictions for the NBA season and college basketball, I will let you all know.

I had to wait a day to post this preview. I had to see for sure whether the Spurs are actually better than the Trail Blazers. Turns out, they are.

In fact, nearly all logic tells me that the Spurs are once again the best team in the league and will win the championship. Only I’m not going to pick them. I’m going to pick Phoenix. San Antonio might be the best team with the best coach, but they’re not going to have the fire that Phoenix will this year. Think about it: Steve Nash and Grant Hill both know they’re on the down side of their careers and may not have another chance. They’ve already talked about trading Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion; this might be the last year their core group is together. I think Stoudemire will be improved, and the veterans will not let them lose. They will upset the Spurs in the playoffs even though they’ll be the higher seed.

I’m going to break my fast from posting for this. Ironically, I’ve been in Seattle and Portland the last few days.

At first I agreed with the thoughts that having Oden and Durant both going to the Northwest would be bad for the league because of the time difference. But as I thought about it, I don’t think that will be the case.

Does anyone ever complain that it’s bad for the league that Phoenix games start late? The Lakers are one of the glamorous teams in the league, but they play in the Pacific Time Zone. Golden State was the great story of the playoffs, but they play in the Pacific Time Zone. A few years ago the Sacramento Kings were the most fun team in the league to watch, but they were in the Pacific Time Zone. There has been talk of moving a franchise to Las Vegas, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. Why does the Pacific Time Zone not matter in any of those cases? Perhaps the reason that the biggest NBA markets are in the East is that the tv schedule favors them. Maybe the West will become so stacked that the NBA will change the schedule, which will in turn make the Western teams more popular. Maybe the Western teams aren’t as good for tv ratings, but the Kings, Warriors, Jazz, Suns, and Mavericks (in the Central Time Zone, but stick with me) have some of the best fans in the league. I think that giving the best players to the best fans will help the league more than giving the best players to the biggest markets.